~Chapter 09~
“So what you just told me you want is ‘peace,’ Lady Kinzell?”
“Yes, but…”
Rociniel burst into loud laughter at Ivyn’s answer.
He laughed so heartily that the large audience chamber echoed with the sound.
‘Why is he suddenly like that…?’
Ivyn’s ears flushed apple-red with embarrassment.
She felt somewhat humiliated.
“From what I’ve heard, Lady Kinzell is too… innocent to have the word ‘peace’ on her lips?”
The young emperor continued, tapping the side of his own head.
“Right here.”
And then, as if something was incredibly funny, Rociniel began laughing alone again.
It seemed he didn’t even notice Ivyn standing before him with an expression like she’d just bitten into something awful.
Well, honestly, it wasn’t surprising.
In the original story, Rociniel’s character was exactly like that.
Endlessly arrogant, selfish, and dissolute.
“Did you get brainwashed or something after being captured by the Theocracy?”
Rociniel asked with a slight smile.
‘Not brainwashed, the person was completely changed,’ Ivyn answered only in her heart.
“Ah.”
The emperor waved a hand in front of his face.
“Thanks to you, I laughed out loud for the first time in a while. Thank you, Lady Kinzell.”
Rociniel was just wiping away the tears that had gathered at the corners of his eyes.
“Truly, you are a person who knows humor. This palace is full of nothing but stuffy old people.”
Is that what you call an explanation? Making people panic?
Ivyn stared at the emperor, mentally cursing him with every word.
“Alright, then let’s do this. As you heard in the conference hall earlier, I don’t want the two factions sharpening their blades over this incident. Instead… I’d like to personally compensate you for something.”
“…?”
“Looking at you, you seem even prettier than Saint Pavella. How about it? You becoming my official consort instead.”
Is this a joke, or is he serious?
Ivyn was speechless.
It was because of the emperor, who spoke so lightly as if the position of an empire’s consort was something to be won in a card game.
“What, is the honor so great you’ve lost your wits?”
When Ivyn remained silent for a while, just staring blankly at him, Rociniel slightly raised the corner of his mouth.
He seemed to think she was too overwhelmed by his proposal and was choosing her words carefully.
In reality, she was cursing him out mentally the whole time…!
*Sigh.*
But Ivyn calmly composed herself.
She realized it was her own mistake to expect any meaningful compensation from such a pants-on-head emperor.
After a period of silence, Ivyn slowly parted her red lips.
“This young lady cannot accept Your Majesty’s offer.”
“Hmm?”
The mood among the courtiers froze.
Among their calm surfaces trembled the needle of a barometer sensing an impending storm.
“Your Majesty is…”
“…?”
“I deeply regret… but… that…”
“…”
“You’re not my type…”
“…”
“….”
Silence.
A terrifying stillness fell over the audience chamber.
The atmosphere was as if someone passing by had casually dumped a bucket of sewage.
The Royal Guards lined up on either side of the young emperor forcibly clenched their jaws and bowed their heads deeply. The attendants, led by the head attendant, awkwardly gazed at distant mountains. The remaining officials were busy clearing their throats meaninglessly and rolling their eyes.
“Ha…”
Rociniel, who had briefly buffered, laughed cheerfully again as if nothing was wrong, but the nature of this laugh was different from before.
His noble lips trembled ever so slightly, revealing his flustered state at the unexpected answer.
“Me? Ha! That’s funny.”
Contrary to his words praising her witty (?) reply, his expression was endlessly cold.
In the pitifully frozen atmosphere,
Rociniel forced out one more comment.
“Lady Kinzell, I take it handsome men aren’t your type?”
“I do like them…?”
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
Rociniel immediately rebutted.
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you just say I’m not your type?”
“Ah…”
As Ivyn couldn’t bring herself to continue, another cold silence fell between them.
She was genuinely unable to find an appropriate response.
In front of someone who just declared themselves handsome…
How on earth is one supposed to react to that?
‘What, should I applaud?’
Ivyn looked around for help, but no one would meet her eyes.
Everyone was just watching the drama unfold from a safe distance.
“I was just joking to make you laugh. You seemed too tense.”
“Yes…”
“Ahem. Well then, let’s conclude today’s special audience here.”
“Yes…?”
“You may go.”
“But we still haven’t discussed compensation…”
“Go.”
Unbelievable.
As Rociniel, who had done a 180-degree turn in attitude, waved her away as if she were a fly, Ivyn stared at him blankly for a moment.
“Leave.”
“But the compensation…”
“What is everyone doing? Remove that lady from my sight at once.”
Ultimately, the emperor’s order of expulsion was given.
* * *
*Thud!*
The audience chamber door closed mercilessly behind Ivyn.
She was still dumbfounded.
“What on earth is with that man…?”
If he was just going to have such a trivial, pointless conversation, why did he have to summon her here separately?
As she looked back, grumbling, and turned left down the corridor…
*Thump!*
She collided with someone who was just turning the corner.
She hadn’t seen them properly yet, but due to their height and large build, it felt like she’d run forehead-first into a wall.
“Ouch! S-sorry…”
Rubbing her stinging forehead and looking up, Ivyn unconsciously gasped and covered her mouth.
“Guh…”
As they say, enemies meet on a narrow bridge… and of all places, here…
Ivyn glanced up at the original story’s male lead, who was looking down at her with a disgusted expression.
*Gulp.*
She swallowed dryly.
A chill seemed to run down her spine.
In the strange atmosphere flowing between them, Theodore was the first to speak.
“We didn’t get to properly say goodbye last time, Ivyn Kinzell.”
“…”
“I came to find you because I have something I want to ask.”
Something to ask?
How her family found the location of the underground prison?
Or, if her family is really colluding with the Dark Covenant?
As Ivyn was turning these thoughts over in her small head, Theodore’s low voice cut through her musings.
“That day, during my interrogation… was even the tears you showed me all an act?”
Huh?
That’s not the question she expected.
“The tears…?”
Ivyn recalled the events from the underground prison a few days ago.
That day, she had made a tearful plea to the holy knight.
It was a strategy she used, knowing his personality well.
Theodore Raytner was, after all, fundamentally a just and morally strong male protagonist from the original story.
‘But… that wasn’t all of it.’
At first, she started sniffling to appear pitiful, but gradually, genuine emotions began to surge within her.
The fear, terror, and sense of injustice that the novel’s character would have felt in that situation had been transmitted to her.
But how could she explain this?
That it started as a scheme, but she ended up crying for real?
Because she became immersed in the extra character Ivyn?
“Your silence seems to confirm it.”
While she was choosing her words, the holy knight, having drawn his own tentative conclusion, muttered coldly.
“No, it’s that…”
“Next time you meet me, you will absolutely not leave alive.”
Just as Theodore finished speaking and was about to turn away…
“It was an act!”
*Halt.*
The holy knight’s footsteps stopped.
Ivyn hesitated for a moment, then cautiously continued.
“…It wasn’t.”
The man didn’t turn around.
“That day, in front of Sir Raytner, not a single word I said was a lie.”
“…”
“It’s just… I somehow thought you might be the kind of person who would lend an ear to a prisoner who was unjustly captured. That’s why I opened up like that.”
Silence followed for a while. During it, Ivyn looked at the man’s broad back, wondering what he might be thinking now.
Does he even think the words she just uttered are also an act?
It was then.
“Vinnie!”
With large footsteps echoing through the corridor, Dylan appeared.
At that sound, the holy knight, who had been standing with his back to her, abruptly changed direction and strode away with his long legs.
By the time Dylan reached her, he was already gone without a trace.
“The guy you were just talking to… wasn’t that the holy knight from the Theocracy? Right? But what is that bastard doing here, coming to find my daughter…!”
“Dad! It’s fine, it’s okay!”
Ivyn blocked Dylan with her small body.
She judged that if the two met here, who knows what trouble might start.
“We just bumped into each other passing by, that’s all. We didn’t really talk.”
“What? Really? That doesn’t seem like something that demon-like bastard would do!”
“We’re inside the palace. Let’s go home and talk, Dad.”
Ivyn managed to calm Dylan down, who was practically emitting blue light from his eyes, and got on the carriage heading back to the mansion.
—
That evening.
“So you really came back after telling him off like that?”
“Yes.”
“As expected, our little squirrel is the best! You really gave him a good one! As they say, the leaky dipper leaks outside too!”
“…”
The Kinzell family members sitting around the dinner table listened intently and with enthusiastic applause to Ivyn’s account of the ‘private audience.’
However, amidst the cheerful atmosphere, Dylan’s expression was not bright.
